The Purple Men In The Middle
by The Failed Author
Summary: The puppets have ripped off their strings and they have opened their eyes. What happens when everything you thought you knew suddenly turns out to be false, and that you were to your master as useful as dust? What would you do? Please read and review.


This is just for fun. If the reviews are good i will continue with the story.

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THE PURPLE MEN IN THE MIDDLE...

AND ALSO BEHIND THE CURTAINS

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CHAPTER 1: Tensions

The Sun was slowly rising over the now temporarily peaceful patch of land named 2Fort. I say temporarily because at precisely 10:00 in the morning paid mercenaries will emerge from their bases and begin to kill one another, in order to steal 3 intelligence cases that are resting in both bases. But for now, all was peaceful. The early morning air was chilly, and the water underneath the bridge was calm as it could be. There were many discarded bolts in the water from all the destroyed Sentries, Dispensers and, in some humorous cases, teleporters. The RED Scout yawned and stretched in his old wooden bed as he woke up from his well deserved sleep. The room was dusty and several hundred years old, and on the walls were several posters of The Boston Red Sox and a few half naked ladies ( courtesy of Demoman ). Most of the rooms were in the tower that was conected via the metal covered bridge to the rest of the complex that was barred of by the chain link fence, and below them was the Sniper deck. In that part of the complex were the kitchen, pantry, the rest of the rooms, the garage, the Engineers crafting room in wich they crafted weapons etc. The beds on wich they slept on were probably not as old as the complex it'self. They were probably from the 1930's – 40's. They were old and he and his teammates had to carry their pillows and covers from home. The Scouts beadsheats and pillows were hand-me-downs from his oldest brother. He HATED hand-me-downs... but i guess you can't buy 5000 dollars worth a bed sheets when your living in the poor district in South Boston, so he didn't complain much. He didn't want to annoy his mother. She had to many things on her mind to be worying about that now. The Scout would send her more than half of his paycheck ( which wasn't that much in comparison to the paycheck of the other mercenaries: 20 000 dollars a succesful mission, wich Scout often complained about, but RED commmand tolld him to " shut up and do your job " ). He told her that he had become a succesful shop owner. She was SO proud of him. The Scout thought about how much his mother was happy about his little lie. She never liked the fact that he used to get in fights when he was a child, and knowing that her son was a paid mercenary migth be to much for her, even though there was a wonderful respawning system that was out of reach to civilians ( for obvious reasons ) wich always interested Scout. The Scout put on his socks and his running shoes on. He carried the passion of baseball with him from home. It proved well in battle. He put on the Ye Olde Baker Boy ( Team Spirit colour ), a hat that he recently ordered from the " Hat - Wearin Man " magazine. He decided to order it after both his hat and his headset melted after a rather painfull incident with BLU Pyro. He still didn't get the chance to bat his skull in after that. He tied the bands around his hands like always and slung the baseball bag around him. He looked at the Demoman. He was snoring loudly, his bottle of scrumpy lying next to him. How the Scout manages to fall asleep with the Demoman snoring, the rest of the team didn't quite know. Maybe because he shared one room witn seven other brothers. He unlocked the door of the several hundred year old, dusty room and went to the kitchen to grab something to eat. He climbed up the staircase in order to reach the bridge ( wich was actually a large chute ) and he ended up in the attic of the garage, wich served as the Crafting and Workroom for the Engineers. There were no Engineers in it at this time. It was a dark room filled with blueprints, boxes full of metal, crafting equipment, torches, anvils, saws, hammers, experimental Sentries, Dispensers and Teleporters, everything that an Engineer needs in order to do his work. It was a overcrowded room so he had to plow his way through all of the cardboard boxes and metal. He finally reached the door and went down the rickety stairs and in to the hallwa to the kitchen and dinig room. On the way, Scout thought of yet another mundane battle over the enemy inteligence. He was slowly getting tired. He loved to fight, but a week long stalemate began to take a hold over all of them. All that anger and hate was accumulating in all of them, and today they intended to put them to good use. The hate and anger ( unlike the rations ) were limitless, while some utilised good old fashioned sadism and schadenfreude. Almost everyone was nervous ( except Spy, The Snipers and Engie, who didn't care, was cool about it , is always optimistic ). The Anouncer was the worst. It didn't matter if they lost or even if it was a stalemate, she always has that dissapointed tone in her voice that slowly, octave by octave, it rises to angered and furious yelling. Then the rest of the day was just the uncomfortable silence. Soldier was rarely present at the kitchen table on those horibble nights. And even when they won she had that tone of voice that just screamed of " i couldn't care less ". The door to the kitchen was opened when he got there. Inside were the two, still sleepy Engineers. Scout wawed to them. Only one wawed back, the other one was sleeping on the metal table. Scout snickered at the idea that just popped to his head. Engineer 1, wearing a white Texas Ten Gallon, took notice of this and slowly shook his head towards the Scout.

" Boy... don't even think of it... " he told him. The Engineers were mostly soft spoken, but when you test their patience, your in for a ride, especially if the one who was asleep had a mechanic right hand AND ESPECIALLY if he was nervous about the upcoming battle.. The Scout made a mistake when he began to bang his aluminum bat againts the metal table right next to the other Engineers head. He screamed and looked around himself while Scout laughed loudly.

" Why... you DIRTY LITTLE PIECE OF... BRAAAAGH! " Engineer 2 screamed as he began to chase Scout around the kitchen, the other one trying to calm them down.

" Come on Engie! C...cant'ya take a joke! " the Scout pleaded after Engie grabbed him by the collar of his shirt

" What boy! Cant' ya take a punch, because ima gonna beat your hide so bad... "

" Aaaah for Croist sake! Knock it of! The both of ya, or ill' pour something special in each of your mornin' cofee! "

yelled the tall lanky figure, otherwise known as the Sniper, as he groggiliy stepped in to the kitchen . After that rather convincing threath the two retreated to the seats. The Scout, to avoid further retribution decided to apologise to Engie 2

" Ummm... sorry' bout dat Engie... it was preety dumb.. won't ' appen again! "

Engie looked at him with a suspicious look on his face.

" Scouts honor! " Scout exclaimed.

For a few moments there was silence, and then Engie 2 laughed a soft laugh and shook his head. Then Soldier came in to the room, followed by a rather jolly Pyro. Then the second Scout and the second Sniper. Soon, two medics and a Heavy entered the room along with the Spy and Demoman. In toto, 13 teammates. After a rather delicious breakfeast, made by the second Scout, they began to come up with a strategy in order to capture the intelligence. The Soldier stood up from his seat dramatically ( Soldier had a penchant for trying to make EVERYTHING epic, like flushing the toilet ) and began to discuss their game plan. The battle was just 30 minutes away

" Now listen boys! As you know, the rotten BLU devils have received their shipment of intelligence cases that are to be picked up by some besuited beurocrat from their sleezy BLU command somewhere in... BLU... country or whatever! Now Engie 1 build a sentry, preferably Level 3, in our Intel room and a Dispenser near the frontlines . "

" Allrite, and ill rasle up a teleporter in front of the room. Spah'll be tempted to sap it. A little safety measure. " Engie 1 advised

" Nice Engie. For the intel cases we'll need a Scout rush. Scout 1 you take the sewers, Scout 2 will take the route from the bridge. Snipe... "

" Aww come on man! " Scout 2 whined " we tried dat last week and we lost. If we' ad about 6 Scouts than' it'be easy. I don't wanna go through humiliation again!

The Soldier stared at him with a stern face. Even though his eyes were obscured by his helmet, Scout could feel his gaze burning through his skin. He stared at him for half a minute before the Scout decided it was best to go along with the plan.

" As i was going to say, Snipers, you will give these two hooligans covering fire as they advance from the deck. Aim for the head. "

" Mhm... " the Snipers grumbled. They were annoyed by the useless advice. A good Sniper ALWAYS shoots the head

" Our Sewers have to be controlled. Engie 2 i leave that task to you, Medic 2 will be with you to keep a look out for a Spy. "

" Me? But i vill more likely be killed by ze Spy than anyzhing else! "

" Even that will help. Also, Demo, you migh want to lay some stickies by the Intel case and in the sewers. "

" Sure mate... " Demo said as he took a swig of scrumpy

" Medic, Heavy just give' em hell and don't even let them cross the bridge, i'll be there to give you support. "

" Yyyeess! " The Heavy yelled. He loved raising hell.

" Spy... "

" I know what to do. " Spy cut him off

" Errmmm... right. And Pyro. You will go with the Scouts in case if they fail. So, gear up ladies, we HAVE to win this one. We've been at a stalemate for 5 days now, if we win this one our paychecks are up and we have a free weekend ... do not fail me, or else all of you will wash this entire fort with nothing but that century old sponge we have in the basement and your own tounges and some other body part, but right now i can't think of a appropriate one for fort cleaning! MOVE! "

The men prepared themselves for battle. They all went to the resuply locker to grab their weapons. Scout 1 grabbed his Force-a-Nature and Crit-A-Cola, and placed the bat in his bag. Scout 2 used the Scattergun and BONK! and The Sandman. Soldier used the newly aquired Black Box and the Battalion's Backup. He didn't aquire the Grenadier's Softcap yet. He brandished the Equalizer. The Heavy still had Sasha, as he was reluctant to order the Natascha, however he was not reluctant to trade his shotgun in for the Sandvich. He used his fists for meele. Medic 1 Used the Medigun and the Blutsauger and the Ubersaw, while Medic 2 used the Kritzkrieg, Syringe Gun and the Regular Bonesaw. Sniper 1 used the Sniper Rifle, Jarate and the Bushwacka. The Bushwacka was crafted by Engie 1. Sniper 2 prefered The Huntsman and the Tribalman's Shiv and The SMG. Engie 1 used his the Frontier Justice ( he loved the Revenge Crits ) and the Wrangler and the regular Wrench while Engie 2 lopped off his right hand in favor of the Gunslinger, he kept the regular pistol but chose to cary the Frontier justice due to the Mini Sentries being more combat effective . The Spy used the Cloak and Dagger and The Ambassador, along with the Your Eternal Reward. Demoman used The Eyelander and the regular Sticky Launcher. The Pyro had the Degreaser and the Axtinguisher, he kept his Shotgun in order to deal with enemy Pyro's. The Announcer's voice boomed across the hallways.

" Attention. 10 minutes until the mission begins. I do not need to stress how important those Inteligence cases are to the RED cause. Fail me this time and the consequences will be ehehe...severe... "

" Oh don't wory... i'll take care of that... " The Soldier threathened his men as he loaded the Black Box with rockets. The men waited nervously for the begining. They never really knew what exactly would happen if they failed. Most RED mercenaries thought that they would probably lose their jobs, or that their pay might be cut ( or that they wouldn't be paid at all )... but the most frighthening story was every mercenaries worst nightmare. There were stories that RED Command would turn off the Respawn system without them knowing. These stories, or rumors made losing all the more stressfull. There were nervous breakdowns, bedwetting, and loss of concentration during battle. At least that's what alledgedly happened on Granary, but most dissmissed them as stories, while Soldier believed them to be BLU propaganda. Either way, most mercenaries kept their cool, as they all knew full well that losing your head in battle, will end in you losing your head... for real. The awards for regular wins were small, but still very much welcome. Doubled paychecks, larger supplies of food and rations, days off and even vacations. 5 minutes became 4. 4 became three and so on, until the countdown ended. With many a battle cry, RED Team ran out to hopefully snatch victory... and then beat the crap out of defeat.

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Sorry that this chapter was relativley short. The next chapters will be more longer if i get positive feedback.


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